Last hike of the year and a very nice day to do one. Over the past few days snow dipped to the upper levels of Mount Si. This morning as i drove to the trailhead I could see the snow had dropped about a 1000 feet below the top.

The trail is in very good condition, with only one blowdown to walk around. Going up, there were 3 but I only saw one going back down. The blowdown is located at the park bench about halfway up the mountain.

A dusting of snow started at about 3000-foot elevation. I put on my micro-spikes at the 3.5-mile marker (3500-foot elevation). Most hikers wore micro-spikes, while a few did not.

The snow in the rocks was 6 to 8 inches, off trail. Of course, the snow on the trail was packed down and pretty easy to walk on. I hiked to the Snoqualmie Valley overlook, where the snow was as much as a foot deep in places.

Talus Loop - on the way down, I took the Talus Loop trail. The trail was snow free and blowdown free.

Hats off to the WTA crew and volunteers. The improvements are wonderful and despite all the recent wind there were just two trees to circumnavigate.

Since I was first up today I felt obligated to provide a brief report.

It was raining cats and dogs..The trail was wet. but it's dirt and rocks to the summit. No microspikes necessary.

(Yes, there were a few small patches of snow and ice, but lots of earth to find purchase for your feet).

I generally thought that gen Y somewhat wimpy..To the young man who was wearing shorts and a cotton T-shirt in pouring rain and 35 degrees, you're a badass; go get it!

From the Little Si trailhead, I ran up the old way via Douglas Fir and down the new way (to Douglas Fir). There were a few downed trees to cross on the way up, and most of the lower little si trail was a river. Aside from that the trail was in pretty good condition until around 3400 ft where both trails became covered in a thick layer of slush. At the clearing the slush turns to a deep wet snow which persisted as far as I continued. The new trail had a few mud puddles, but nothing quick feet or poles can't handle. I was fine for everything in my trail runners and wool socks.

Sought out a good training hike with some distance and elevation that I could do at the end of the day. My first choice would have been the old trail, which I find more interesting, but I couldn’t make it out to North Bend until 2:30pm and was concerned about coming down in the dark, potential wildlife at dusk, and parking. So went with the more travelled trail instead. Not a lick of snow and only had one blowdown to step over near informative signs in I think Snag Flat. To motivate myself to move fast, I aimed to get to the scramble overlook area below Haystack by sunset. Saw a hiker that made it to the top of Haystack and later ran into him and we were able to hike/jog back to our cars together with my flashlight lighting the way. This out and back for me with no frills or add ons was 7.5 miles, 3200ft elevation gain, 3 hours. Vault Toilets were just serviced in prep for the weekend rush I guess. And trash receptacles were available. The old Mt Si trail shares the same trailhead with Little Si, whose parking lot was full when I passed by. The larger main Mt Si trail lot was no where near being filled today. Look forward to coming back when snow returns for some winter scenery.

Tree down at Snag Flat.